Month: November 2019

Sport

Unsuccessful sporting decades (Cork hurling, Yankees baseball, Spurs football)

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We are a few weeks away from the end of the current decade, the least successful of my lifetime for three different teams, playing three different sports, in three different countries. From at least the 1940s onwards, Cork (hurling, Ireland), the New York Yankees (baseball, USA) and Tottenham Hotspur (football, England) had won at least… Continue reading Unsuccessful sporting decades (Cork hurling, Yankees baseball, Spurs football)

Tenable · Trivia

“Tenable” questions, week ending 22 November 2019 (Series 4, Episodes 26-30)

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Here are the questions and answers for the current series of ITV quiz show “Tenable”, episodes broadcast between Monday 18 and Friday 22 November 2019, Series 4 Episodes 26-30 (S4Ep26, S4Ep27 and so on). The format here is the same as in earlier pieces such as this one from last weekthis one from last week:… Continue reading “Tenable” questions, week ending 22 November 2019 (Series 4, Episodes 26-30)

Reading · Word of the week

Word of the week: marginalia

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  Earlier this month I wrote about Saul Bellow’s 1976 memoir “To Jerusalem and Back”, noting that I would “mention it again soon on these pages”. The phrase that prompted me to write that earlier piece, and which can be found on page 108 of my “Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics” edition, was “Now that the reading… Continue reading Word of the week: marginalia

Tenable · Trivia

“Tenable” questions, week ending 15 November 2019 (Series 4, Episodes 21-25)

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Here are the questions and answers for the current series of ITV quiz show “Tenable”, episodes broadcast between Monday 11 and Friday 15 November 2019, Series 4 Episodes 21-25 (S4Ep21, S4Ep22 and so on). The format here is the same as in earlier pieces such as this one from last week: a list of the… Continue reading “Tenable” questions, week ending 15 November 2019 (Series 4, Episodes 21-25)

Notes from West London · Technology · Word of the week

Word of the week: Mobike

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Reflections on hiring bikes in West London; there are over 1,500 words in this piece. These days the streets and pavements of London are awash with hire bikes. It began at some point earlier this century with the arrival of docking stations placed throughout the centre of town, home to extremely robust (and surprisingly heavy)… Continue reading Word of the week: Mobike

Reading

“Now that the reading fit is on me again” (Saul Bellow)

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“Now that the reading fit is on me again” is a phrase that leapt out at me earlier this week, in Saul Bellow’s “To Jerusalem and Back”, his 1976 work subtitled “A Personal Memoir”. It’s exactly how I feel when going through a reading binge. I did not expect to find the same sentiment expressed… Continue reading “Now that the reading fit is on me again” (Saul Bellow)

Tenable · Trivia

“Tenable” questions, week ending 8 November 2019 (Series 4, Episodes 16-20)

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Here are the questions and answers for the current series of ITV quiz show “Tenable”, episodes broadcast between Monday 4 and Friday 8 November 2019, Series 4 Episodes 16-20 (S4Ep16, S4Ep17 and so on). The format here is the same as in earlier pieces such as this one from last month: a list of the… Continue reading “Tenable” questions, week ending 8 November 2019 (Series 4, Episodes 16-20)

Tenable · Trivia

“Tenable” questions, week ending 1 November 2019 (Series 4, Episodes 11-15)

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Here are the questions and answers for the current series of ITV quiz show “Tenable”, episodes broadcast between Monday 28 October and Friday 1 November 2019, Series 4 Episodes 11-15 (S4Ep11, S4Ep12 and so on). The format here is the same as in earlier pieces such as this one from last month: a list of… Continue reading “Tenable” questions, week ending 1 November 2019 (Series 4, Episodes 11-15)